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Kalanchoe daigremontiana
Also called Mother Of Millions, Alligator Plant, Mother Of Thousands
In Singapore: Mother-of-Millions (Grown in Singapore)
Devil's backbone is a fleshy succulent from southwest Madagascar, known for the plantlets that form along its leaf edges and drop off to root. It is easy to grow in bright, dry conditions and spreads readily by those plantlets and by seed.
Kalanchoe daigremontiana, formerly known as Bryophyllum daigremontianum and commonly called mother of thousands, alligator plant or Mexican hat plant, is a succulent plant native to Madagascar. Like other members of Bryophyllum (now included in the genus Kalanchoe), it can propagate vegetatively from plantlets that develop on its leaf margins, as well as through upshoots from lateral roots, and seeds. All parts of this species contain a very toxic steroid known as daigremontianin.
It is often confused with Kalanchoe laetivirens, Kalanchoe delagoensis and Kalanchoe × houghtonii. The leaves of Kalanchoe laetivirens are completely green, while Kalanchoe daigremontiana has bands or spots on the back of leaves. The leaves of Kalanchoe delagoensis are linear, while Kalanchoe daigremontiana has lanceolate, oblong, ovate or triangular leaves.
Kalanchoe daigremontiana is native to the Fiherenana River valley and Androhibolava mountains in southwest Madagascar. It has been introduced to numerous tropical and subtropical regions, such as Florida, Puerto Rico, Hawaii, Venezuela, Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay, and parts of southern Europe.
Elephant's ear Kalanchoe · Madagascar widow's-thrill · Chandelier plant · Palm beachbells · Narrow Leaved Kalanchoë · Milky Widow's Thrill · Kalanchoe longiflora · Kalanchoe luciae · Kalanchoe manginii · Penwiper · Kalanchoe marnieriana · Copper Spoons
[Contains information from Leaf Area Index (LAI) and Heritage Trees from data.gov.sg (National Parks Board), made available under the terms of the Singapore Open Data Licence version 1.0]
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Kalanchoe daigremontiana by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
Pet safety from the ASPCA toxic and non-toxic plant lists.
